Meditative Activities That You’ll Actually Want To Do
You can meditate without having to sit quietly by yourself, thinking about nothing.
Convincing someone that they should sit alone and think about nothing is almost impossible. That’s why while everyone knows they should meditate, few actually bother to try.
Who would want to take on meditation after being told to think about nothing?
“How do you even think about nothing and why am I not watching the new season of Selling Sunset right now?”
Well, the good news is that meditation doesn’t have to be that. Meditation actually has many different forms, and I don’t transcendental vs. vipassana.
Meditation can be done while doing different activities.
Okay, so what is meditation then?
Meditation requires you to focus your mind on a specific object, thought or activity.
Most forms of meditation involve you focusing on your breath, thoughts, or an object such as prayer beads. By doing these meditations you can dive deeper inside yourself, learn about yourself, and discover who you really are.
You can even chant mantras, do ohms, or say random stuff in order to create a white noise that ends up muting everything else so that you are basically thinking about nothing.
While these meditations have many benefits, this is not the meditation I’m referring to.
Remember, meditating involves you focusing on an object, thought or activity.
Go for a walk
You can meditate while you go for a walk. In fact, walking is quite a popular form of meditation and is used by many people.
Stoics famously go for walks as a form of meditation, but Steve Jobs walked to help him think, and Albert Einstein walked to let his mind wander.
This doesn’t mean going for a walk with your headphones in listening to a podcast or some Taylor Swift though. I would recommend only using your headphones if whatever you are listening to acts as white noise.
You should go for a walk without headphones so that it is just you, nature and your thoughts.
Let your mind wander, make sure you are breathing, and see what you think of.
I personally try to do this once a day as a way to daydream and relax. It’s a great form of meditation especially if you are new to it.
Working out
If you go to the gym, are on your cell phone the whole time, and talk to every person you see… that’s not meditative, and chances are, your workout isn’t the best either.
Working out can be meditative though.
You have to be completely in your zone and focused on your exercises.
When you are lifting those weights, feel every fibre in the muscle you are working out. Not only will you get a better workout, but you will be so focused, that it is similar to meditating.
This is something that Arnold Schwarzenegger is a big fan of and gives credit for a lot of his body-building success. He refers to it as the “mind-muscle connection.”
Painting
Many creative outlets can serve as a meditative activity. Once again, when you get in the zone where you are so focused everything just seems to flow. The background noise blurs out, and it’s just you, and your mind.
Some call it flow state, others call it tunnel vision. Regardless of what you choose to call it, it’s amazing.
Painters often talk about this and it is most definitely meditative.
If painting is something that takes your focus, and allows you to get in this state… you should definitely do it more often!
Alternatives to this could be sketching, or pottery!
Journaling
One of the best forms of reflection is journaling. Stoics (once again) are famous for journaling daily and for them, it serves as a form of meditation.
Journaling allows you to dive deep into your mind, log your thoughts, and then you can go back and reflect on them effectively.
Time and time again, I have found myself going through my journal and either being pleased with my progress or realizing there was something I wanted to do, that I didn’t do.
While doing classical meditations is great, journaling makes the reflection easier because you can read through your mind as if it were someone else’s thoughts.
Quite often we give ourselves the advice that we need most.
Yoga
The yoga that we are used to has a lot of movement. You might go to the studio, and do 30 different poses in the span of 60 minutes.
Many yogis however spend their entire life perfecting one pose.
The amount of focus this requires is immense. Even if you are doing the 30 poses in 60 minutes, it still requires a lot of focus and steady breathing.
Any activity that requires focus can be meditative.
Yoga however pairs really well with traditional meditation. After a 60-minute practice, it is remarkably effective to spend a few minutes breathing, reflecting, and diving deep into that beautiful mind of yours.
Playing an instrument
I have played guitar for over 20 years now. Although I don’t play 6 hours a day like I did when I was 14, I can still pick up my guitar and get in an extreme state of focus.
While I am focused, it still feels effortless.
Instruments are unique because they allow you to look inside, and express your emotions in the form of music. As you hear that music come out, you keep going and going until you’ve let it all out.
In that sense, it’s not only meditative because of the focus, but because it allows you to reflect and learn about yourself.
This one may be hard to understand if you don’t play an instrument yourself, but watching someone like Eric Clapton play his song “Old Love”… you can witness it beautifully.
Cleaning
This one definitely doesn’t apply to me, but I have met people who simply love cleaning. While watching them clean I’ve noticed that they enter what is similar to a state of meditation.
They are so focused on the task at hand that they can’t even hear you talk.
People who clean like this resort to cleaning as a way to meditate and many of them don’t realize it.
Cleaning will be hard to pick up as a meditative activity. It’s one of those things that is either for you, or it isn’t.
Dancing
One of my favourites is dancing. Not because I can dance (because I’m not very good), but because I find it incredible to watch.
Dancing is one of those creative outlets that allows someone to truly express themselves, and release whatever emotions they are holding in.
Of course, every form of dancing is so complex that it requires focus, but the best dancers are the ones who can transfer their emotions through their movements to you, the ones watching.
It’s incredible.
This state of focus that dancers enter makes dancing a meditative activity, and one that anyone can try.
Conclusion
If you’ve reached this point in my article, you’ve probably realized that you already do some sort of activity that is meditative.
That is great! However, I challenge you to approach this activity differently though.
Now that you know this activity is meditative, the next time you do it make sure to focus deeply on what you are doing. Feel the piano, become one with the dance floor, or feel every fibre in your bicep as you curl those weights.
It will start to feel different, and you will fall deeper in love with that activity.
Thanks for reading
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